The latest from CDMOs, CMOs, and suppliers featuring Lonza, Fujifilm Diosynth Biotechnologies, Aenova, and Colorcon.  

Biologics Manufacturing 
* Lonza, Vertex To Build Cell-Therapy Mfg Facility; Enter Mfg Partnership 
* Fujifilm Diosynth Biotechnologies Names New President and CEO 
Formulation Development/Drug Product Manufacturing 
* Aenova Opens $33-M High-Potency Drug-Product Mfg Facility 
* Colorcon Launches Digital Formulation Design Tool 

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Biologics Manufacturing 

Lonza, Vertex To Build Cell-Therapy Mfg Facility, Enter Mfg Partnership 
Lonza and Vertex Pharmaceuticals, a Boston-based bio/pharmaceutical company, have agreed to co-invest to build a new cell-therapy manufacturing facility in Portsmouth, New Hampshire. To be operated by Lonza, the facility will span more than 130,000 square feet and is anticipated to create up to 300 new jobs at peak capacity. Construction is scheduled to begin later this year (2023). 

The new facility will support manufacturing for Vertex’s portfolio of investigational stem-cell-derived, insulin-producing islet cell therapies for treating Type 1 diabetes. Under the collaboration, Vertex and Lonza will partner in the process development and scale-up for the manufacturing of Vertex’s product portfolio and co-invest to build the new facility. Vertex’s two lead cell therapies for treating Type 1 diabetes are VX-880 and VX-264, both in Phase I/II development.  

Source: Vertex Pharmaceuticals 

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Fujifilm Diosynth Biotechnologies Names New President and CEO 
Fujifilm has named Lars Petersen as the new President and CEO of Fujifilm Diosynth Biotechnologies, a CDMO of biologics, effective immediately (as reported on June 29, 2023). Petersen succeeds Martin Meeson, who had served as Fujifilm Diosynth Biotechnologies’ President and CEO since 2020. 

Petersen has over 30 years of operational and leadership experience in life sciences and biopharmaceuticals. He most recently served as the Chief Operating Officer of Fujifilm’s Diosynth Biotechnologies’ site in Hillerød, Denmark, as well as head of the company’s large-scale strategic business unit.  In this capacity, he was responsible for the company’s $6.2-billion global expansions at the company’s sites in both Hillerød and Holly Springs, North Carolina. Prior to joining Fujifilm Diosynth Biotechnologies, he held leadership positions at Biogen, Novo Nordisk, and Genentech/Roche. 

Source: Fujifilm Diosynth Biotechnologies 

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Formulation Development/Drug Product Manufacturing 

Aenova Opens $33-M High-Potency Drug-Product Mfg Facility 
Aenova, a CDMO of drug products, has opened a new EUR 25 million ($33 million) building at its site in Regensburg, Germany, for the development and production of high-potency tablets and capsules. The new four-story building has a total building area of more than 4,000 square meters and houses the production and packaging of highly potent tablets as well as the associated laboratories, development, storage, and social rooms. The new building expands the production area and the areas of development and laboratory by over 2,100 m² at the Regensburg site. After the planned start-up at the beginning of 2024, the production capacities will be increased in volume by more than 1 billion tablets and capsules.  

Source: Aenova 

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Colorcon Launches Digital Formulation Design Tool  
Colorcon, an excipient manufacturer and provider of formulation-development services, has launched a new digital formulation design tool, HyperStart C2C, for solid oral dosage forms to enable digital self-service and delivery of starting formulations and coatings for tablets. HyperStart C2C provides formulation recommendations, excipient choices, film-coating options, and color selection, along with regulatory insights and process guidance. 

Source: Colorcon